And so Village Church, and Mitchelton Presbyterian our mother church, have for years trained up people for Gospel ministry. Whether that’s in a full- or part-time capacity, we want to invest our resources into the next generation of Christian leaders. Here’s two people finishing up their traineeships at Village this year, people who have benefited from your investment in future Gospel ministry.
[ut_one_half] [ut_animate_image image=”https://vc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Deon-Sunglasses-Cropped.jpg” effect=”slideInLeft”] [/ut_one_half] [ut_one_half_last]Deon was with the core team that planted Village Church just over 5 years ago. Bit by bit God has grown him, shaped him, and used him in people’s lives to push them towards Jesus & help them understand grace. A couple of years ago he decided to see if full—time ministry would be for him, so he did a traineeship at Village Church. He’s stepped out of his comfort zone, been challenged as to what full-time ministry looks like, discovered & grown the abilities God has given him, and invested in the lives of those God has put around him. Next year he’s heading off to college to train for whatever it is that God has in store for him next. We’re thankful to God for Deon, and looking forward to God raising up many more like him over the next few years. [/ut_one_half_last]
[ut_one_half]Jayesh joined Village Church just over 2.5 years ago. 6 months after joining he’d started a traineeship here. Jayesh had been involved in starting and running ministries before – from Gospel Theatre to helping out on beach missions, but the traineeship gave him a taste of what doing this full-time is like. Long-term investment in people through discipleship, opportunities to try new ministries, teaching God’s Word in big groups as well as small, and carrying the responsibility & privilege of shepherding others, the traineeship has stretched him. Next year, Jayesh is heading off to Bible college to train to be a Presbyterian minister, and to shepherd a church of his own. [/ut_one_half] [ut_one_half_last] [ut_animate_image image=”https://vc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Jayesh.png” effect=”slideInRight”]
[/ut_one_half_last]How the Future Ministry Initiative works
The full budget for Village Church in 2015 is $270k. You can see the three parts that make it up below (in thousands of dollars):
[ut_count_up color=”#222222″ desccolor=”#222222″ to=”177″ background=”#f1f1f1″ opacity=”1″ width=”third” last=”false”] Ownership at home [/ut_count_up] [ut_count_up color=”#222222″ desccolor=”#222222″ to=”16″ background=”#f1f1f1″ opacity=”1″ width=”third” last=”false”] Parntership abroad [/ut_count_up] [ut_count_up color=”#222222″ desccolor=”#222222″ to=”77″ background=”#f1f1f1″ opacity=”1″ width=”third” last=”true”] Investment in future Gospel workers [/ut_count_up]The first two are the ongoing costs associated with running Village Church. That is, the costs to keep growing followers of Jesus, as well as supporting our Gospel partners overseas – both of which we’re passionate about and glad to do. But the third part – the people we’re investing in as they consider future Gospel ministry – we think is too good too keep to ourselves. So we’re asking people from both within Village, as well as friends and family from outside Village, to partner with us as we equip these future Gospel workers, while giving them opportunities to get on the job training in ministry.
[ut_one_half]In particular, we’re asking people to invest in future Gospel workers by giving a lump-sum donation to make a dent in the $77k Future Ministry Initiative costs. Will you partner with Village Church as we invest in future Gospel workers?
[/ut_one_half] [ut_one_half_last] [ut_probar width=”68″ info=”Percentage of the $77k Future Ministry Fund raised so far:”] [/ut_one_half_last]The people we’re investing in for 2015
[ut_one_half] [ut_animate_image image=”https://vc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Nat.jpg” effect=”slideInLeft”] [/ut_one_half] [ut_one_half_last]This will be the second year of Nat’s traineeship. Because of Nat’s giftings, and the place God has placed him, Nat’s traineeship was never going to be “normal”. We were going to support him as he developed Krosswerdz (Hip Hop Church) to see where that went, assist him in building relationships with youth on the fringes in places such as the detention centre at Wacol, and explore evangelistic opportunities through Hip Hop workshops in schools, churches and community groups. Through all of this was the desire to train Nat in teaching the Bible and discipling people, so he could take these skills into any of the areas that developed. We’re really excited to say that lots of these things are gaining traction and in Nat’s second year we’re going to help him keep building these ministries. He’s looking to develop Krosswerdz on the northside of Brisbane, get into the detention centre one more day a fortnight to build relationships, and he’s already got a number of churches that are approaching him to do his workshop / testimony for outreach events. We’re looking forward to what God is going to do through Nat this year.[/ut_one_half_last] [ut_one_half]
Bridget, moved to Brisbane nearly 2 years ago from Bangladesh…India…but originally Tasmania, for work and study. She’s an engineer, and recently completed her post-graduate studies in water management. But having been at Village for a couple of years, and increasingly used her gifts to both serve the church community, connect people within & to Village Church, and to work out how to share the things she values most of all – Jesus – with those around her, she’s now feeling God’s calling to explore what full-time ministry looks like in the context of a traineeship.
Bridget’s will be focusing on three main areas. Community building – both for building relationships between those who are within Village, but also working on ways for the Village Church community & those within it to connect & serve the community around us; Connecting those who are new to Village – as Village grows, it can be harder to know the way in to Village, and easier to sit on the edge. We don’t want that for people – we want people to grow, and that happens through hearing God’s Word and being sharpened in real relationships. So we want those who are new to find that easy to do; Discipleship – there are few mature Christians who haven’t had someone invest into them deeply. We want to keep working on a culture where people feel equipped and are passionate about doing this.
We’re really excited to have Bridget consider coming on to work with us, and having the opportunity to invest in her as she has invested in Village Church the last couple of years.
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Lauren (with Simon & Norah) has been coming to Village Church for just over 4 years now. For the last couple of years she’s been working on building the ever-growing kids ministry at Village Church, as well as leading a women’s bible study group. Next year, Lauren is looking at doing some subjects at Bible college to equip her as she serves adults & kids at Village Church better, and we’re really excited to support her as she does it. Lauren’s got two areas she’s passionate about. Kids Ministry – We want everyone at Village – including our kids – to feel valued, loved, connected parts, growing to know what it looks like to love Jesus. And we want to equip parents to be able to talk to their kids about Jesus consistently, naturally & engagingly, but we also want the wider Village Church community to be able to be part of their growing understanding of Jesus and what he’s done for them. So Lauren’s going to be working at creating ways to help people see the beauty of talking to kids about Jesus, and that it’s neither scary nor unattainable – but natural and rewarding. Women’s Ministry – Over the last couple of years, Lauren & Jess’ women’s growth group has provided beautiful connections between women in Village. Lauren’s keen to develop this further and to help build connections between older & younger women at Village, and to build discipleship within Village into our DNA.
That sounds like a lot for 1.5 days/week – but Lauren is doing a lot of this anyway. So this is just a great opportunity for Village Church to provide a bit of space for her to both study and develop these skills for the future.
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Emma became a Christian at Village Church a few years ago as she came to understand the grace of God found in Jesus. These last few years have been an incredible time of growth for Emma, and for those who know Emma, and God has now brought her to a place where she’s keen to serve the church in a slightly different capacity. Emma’s plan is to drop back to 4 days a week from her teaching job, and spend 1.5 days/week working in and around Village. Here’s what Emma is hoping to focus on in 2015.
“Next year I want to continue to foster a culture of discipleship within our church which encourages people to invest in each other’s lives as we all strive to follow Jesus and look more like him. I want to help those who are new to Village Church to feel welcome and get connected, especially if they haven’t been to church for a while or are new to the whole thing. I also want to find ways I can encourage and support the women who are already part of our community to keep building meaningful connections with each other, with the people in their world, and with God’s word, in authentic and transformative ways.”
Again, that sounds like more than 1.5 days/week, but as with all the people who work in trainee- or internships, this ministry is just an extension of what they’re doing already.[/ut_one_half] [ut_one_half_last] [ut_animate_image image=”https://vc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Emma.jpg” effect=”slideInRight”] [/ut_one_half_last]
So as we make plans for 2015, under God, we’re hoping to see these people trained up for future Gospel ministry. We have seen God use them in the past, and we’d love to support them as they continue to explore what He’s calling them to. Will you join us as we invest in them?
[ut_button color=”theme-btn” target=”_self” link=”https://vc.org.au/giving” size=”large” shape=”round” ]Click here to invest in future Gospel workers now.[/ut_button]
